large

1 big in size or quantitya large area/family/house/car/appetitea large number of peoplevery large sums of moneyHe's a very large child for his age.A large proportion of old people live alone.Women usually do the larger share of the housework.Brazil is the world's largest producer of coffee.Who's the rather large (= fat) lady in the hat?

2 (abbreviationL)used to describe one size in a range of sizes of clothes, food, products used in the house, etc.small, medium, large

3 wide in range and involving many thingsa large and complex issueSome drugs are being used on a much larger scale than previously.If we look at the larger picture of the situation, the differences seem slight.Which Word?big / large / greatThese adjectives are frequently used with the following nouns:big man/​house/​car/​boy/​dog/​smile/​problem/​surprise/​question/​differencelarge numbers/​part/​area/​room/​company/​eyes/​family/​volume/​population/​problemgreat success/​majority/​interest/​importance/​difficulty/​problem/​pleasure/​beauty/​artist/​surpriseLarge is more formal than big and should be used in writing unless it is in an informal style. It is not usually used to describe people, except to avoid saying ‘fat’.Great often suggests quality and not just size. Note also the phrases:a large amount ofa large number ofa large quantity ofa great deal ofin great detaila person of great age.

Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘liberal in giving, lavish, ample in quantity’): via Old French from Latinlarga, feminine of largus

‘copious’

.Extra examplesBy this time his debt had become extremely large.His eyes were abnormally large.Isn’t that jumper rather large?Our house was not overly large.Some of the clothes looked very large.The issue looms large in political campaigns nationwide.The plant had grown quite large.The universe is infinitely large.a huge chair behind an equally large deskthe increasingly large numbers of senior citizensBrazil is the world’s largest producer of coffee.I grew up in a large family.It’s better value if you buy a large box.There were some very large sums of money involved.Who is the rather large lady in the hat?Would you like small, medium or large?Idioms